Nov. 14, 2009
Results | Photo Gallery 
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Navy women's cross country rookie Brigid Byrne (Fr./Vienna, Va.) posted the ninth-fastest time among all freshmen runners and paced the team across the finish line as the Midshipmen finished 11th out of 27 teams at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Championship at Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday afternoon.
No. 2 Villanova won the team title with 23 points and No. 4 Princeton finished second with 77 points to claim the region's two automatic bids to the NCAA Championship on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. No.7 West Virginia finished third with 82 points, followed by No. 11 Penn State's 98 points and No. 12 Georgetown's 100 points.
The Midshipmen totaled 326 points as a team, 55 fewer than 12th-place and 2009 Patriot League champion Bucknell's 381 points.
Byrne covered the 6k course in 22:47 to finish 44th overall out of 190 runners. Her time was 2:24 off individual champion Sheila Reid's blistering 20:23 clocking for Villanova.
This was the second-straight race and the third time this fall that Byrne, the Patriot League Rookie of the Year, has led the Mids across the finish line.
Anna Bernal (Sr./Bonaire, Ga.) placed 58th with a time of 23:10, who was soon followed by teammate Katie Rentz's (Jr./San Diego, Calif.) clocking of 23:23 for 67th place. Team captain Erica Ziel (Sr./Saginaw, Mich.) completed the race in 23:39 for 75th overall and Jess Palacio (So./Sun Valley, Nev.) rounded out Navy's scoring five with a 93rd-place time of 23:54.
